Scientists at Stanford University have invented an aluminium battery that could potentially allow smartphones to charge within a minute. This battery, according to its inventors, is so powerful that it could revolutionise the industry. The new battery is claimed to go from flat to full within a minute and pulls in enough electricity to fully charge a phone, a laptop or a tablet.

The Apple iPhone takes around two hours to completely charge its inbuilt battery. But if it were fitted with the aluminium power source, it would completely top up within 60 seconds. Though the invention is still in its infant stage, scientists claim that the aluminium battery can withstand more than seven times of charging cycles than traditional battery. If a traditional battery can be recharged around 1,000 times, then the aluminium battery can withstand 7,500 cycles.

Otherwise, our battery has everything else you’d dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. We have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It’s quite exciting.

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As of now, the aluminium battery cannot produce more than half the voltage of a lithium battery, scientists are confident they will improve the output within the next few years. Another feature of aluminium batteries is that these can be bent or folded, and can be used in flexible electric devices and are also cheaper than lithium. Aluminium batteries are safer than conventional lithium-ion batteries used in millions of laptops and cell phones today, Hongjie Dai added.